═══ 1. About Score Card v5.0. ═══ This program is for you and I to keep track of our golf outings and to instruct us in the use of the equipment used to play the game. The use of this program is simple. Just click on an item and respond to the prompts which are presented. To list help items click on Index or issue a Ctrl/C for Options->Contents. ═══ 2. About The Handicap Calculations. ═══ Handicaps are computed in three different ways. The first is using all rounds which are entered in the Score Card program. The second method for handicap calculation uses only the last five rounds entered. The methods listed above are based on the peoria calculation. The third method for handicap calculation is the entry for the USGA (QRA). This is the simplest method for determining a USGA handicap, the "Quick Reference Allowance". Please note that women should subtract 3 from the posted QRA. Handicaps are calculated only on courses with a par rating of 68 or higher. Handicaps are only calculated on rounds of 18 holes, with a minimum of 3 entries recorded. You will also see the field which reports the number of 18 hole rounds entered as well as percentages for birdies, pars and bogeys. All average listings are for 9 and 18 hole entries. ═══ 3. How To Turn Sound Off. ═══ If you desire to eliminate the sound which is played you may move or delete the file titled "golf.wav" from the Score Card directory. ═══ 4. What's New In This Version. ═══ Handicaps are computed with a new method, see the entry for Handicaps for further information. Additional information is now provided in the handicap dialog. Support for 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 resolutions improved. The rules of golf added to the help files. To better implement sorting of rounds the date entered for a round has been expanded. This results in pre v3.0 entries to have the appearance of being pushed to the left in list boxes. As you slowly delete earlier rounds or add new rounds this occurrence will eliminate itself. Additional information in lists and handicap displays. ═══ 5. Easy Payment Plan. ═══ Register today. Send $1,000,000 or less dollars to... The Golf Guy At T.Atkinsons House 2601 S. 70th St. Milw, WI. 53219 A golf ball is never lost, only missing ! ═══ 6. The Rules Of Golf Made Easy. ═══ 1. Match play is competition hole by hole. In stroke play, only the total number of strokes counts. 2. When driving from the tee, the ball must be teed up between the markers and not more than two club lengths behind the markers, never in front of them. 3. If the ball falls off the tee before you've taken your forward swing, you may re-tee it without penalty. But if you swing and miss, that's a "whiff" and it counts one stroke. 4. You may not improve your lie by moving, breaking, or bending growing vegetation. In match play, you would lose the hole. In stroke play, the penalty is two strokes. You may move loose, natural impediments like tree branches, fallen leaves, or loose stones, although if you move the ball in doing so, the penalty is one stroke (no penalty on the putting green). Moving loose impediments is not permissible in hazards unless the ball is covered by sand, leaves or the like, in which case enough may be removed to enable the player to see the top of the ball. Hazards are bunkers (sandtraps), bodies of water, any water source or ditch. 5. After the tee shot, the player whose ball lies farther from the hole plays first. 6. If you play a stroke or strokes with a wrong ball, except in a hazard, you lose the hole in match play, or are penalized two strokes in stroke play. In stroke play, you then have to play out the correct ball before playing from the next tee. There is no penalty if you play the wrong ball in a hazard, providing you then play your own ball. Strokes played with a wrong ball are not include in the score for that hole. 7. Whenever a ball must be dropped in accordance with the Rules of Gold, you must stand erect, hold the ball at shoulder height and arm's length and drop it. There is no restriction on the direction you face. If the dropped ball touches you or your equipment before or after it strikes the ground, you must re-drop it. If the ball rolls into a hazard; onto a putting green; out of bounds; more than two club lengths from where it struck the ground, or nearer to the hole than the Rules permit, you must also re-drop it. There is no penalty for the ball's striking you or your equipment. 8. In match play, an opponent must take a penalty stroke if he, his caddie or his equipment touches or moves a player's ball (except in searching for it or as otherwise provided in the Rules). This penalty does not hold in stroke play. In both match and stroke play the player must place the ball on the spot from which it was moved. 9. In both match and stroke play there is no penalty if your ball moves another player's ball, providing they were not on the putting green. In both types of play the player whose ball was moved must replace his ball before playing it. Also, in stroke play, when both balls lie on the putting green, you must take a two-stroke penalty when you ball strikes the other player's ball; there is no penalty in match play. 10. A ball is "lost" if it cannot be found within five minutes after your side begins to search for it, when another ball is played under the Rules, or as otherwise defined, signal any players behind you to "go through" while you look for your ball. If you can't find it, you must go back to the spot from which you played it and play another, counting both strokes and also adding a penalty stroke to your score for the hole. If the lost ball was played from the tee, it may be reteed, otherwise it must be dropped, except if it was last played from a putting green, it must be placed. If your ball is found after you have put another ball in play, you must continue to play the second ball. 11. If your ball goes out of bounds, you must go back to the spot from which you hit it and play another, counting both strokes and also adding a penalty stroke to your score for the hole. 12. If your ball lies up against a tree or in some other equally bad spot, you yourself must decide whether you can play it from there or not. If you decide it's playable, you must play it as it lies. But, if you decide it isn't, you may go back to the spot from which you hit it and play a ball, adding one penalty stroke to your score for that hole and counting all strokes played. Or, under a one-stroke penalty, you may either (1) drop a ball within two club-lengths of the point where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole, or (2) drop a ball any distance behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is to be dropped. In the last two choices if the ball lay in a bunker, you must drop a ball in the bunker. 13. If you think your ball may be lost outside a water hazard or out of bounds, to save time you may play a provisional ball providing; (1) you do so before going forward to look for you ball and (2) you tell your opponent what you intend to do before playing it. If you find the first ball was not out of bounds, you pick up the second ball and play the first, without penalty. (You are not allowed to play a provisional ball for a ball which may be unplayable or in a water hazard.) 14. If your ball touches an artificial obstruction such as a hose, you may move the hose, if your ball lies on or touches some immovable, artificial obstruction, like a bench or a drinking fountain, or, if the immovable obstruction is so close to your ball that it interferes with your stance or swing of the club, you may drop the ball within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, but not nearer the hole. 15. If anywhere on the course except in a hazard or on a putting green, your ball lies in or touches casual water or ground under repair, or a hole made by a burrowing animal (except in a water hazard), you may, without penalty, pick the ball up and drop it outside the area, within one club-length of the nearest point of relief which is not nearer the hole. You get the same relief if the bad condition interferes with your stance or swing. But if in a bunker your ball lies in casual water, ground under repair, or in a hole made by a burrowing animal, you have a choice of playing it as it lies, or lifting it without penalty and dropping it in the hazard as near as possible the the spot where the ball lay but not nearer the hole, so as to get the most relief possible from the bad condition. Or, under penalty of one stroke you may lift it and drop it outside the hazard, but not nearer the hole, keeping the spot where the ball lay between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped. There is no casual water in a water hazard. 16. If you are certain that your ball is "lost" in ground under repair, or in casual water, or in a hole made by a burrowing animal, you do not have to take a penalty stroke for a "lost ball". 17. On the green, if your ball is in casual water, ground under repair, in a hole made by a burrowing animal, or on an immovable obstruction, or if such conditions lie between your ball and the hole, you may lift the ball, and place it in the nearest position to get the most relief possible, but not nearer the hole. 18. If a ball is completely covered by sand, fallen leaves or the like in a water hazard or bunker, you may remove as much of the material as necessary so you can see the top of the ball. There is no penalty if the ball is moved during such removal, but the ball must be replaced. However, generally you may not touch the hazard with the hand or club, nor move any loose impediment therein. 19. If your ball goes into a water hazard, you may play another from the place where you played the first one, count both strokes, and take a stroke penalty; if your first ball was played from the tee, you may tee the second ball. 20. If your ball is in a water hazard and you think you can play it as it lies, you may do so. If you don't want to play it, instead of going back to the place where you last played, you may drop a ball behind the hazard, keeping the spot where the ball last crossed the margin or the hazard between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped. In this case also there is a stroke penalty. 21. If your ball lies in a lateral water hazard, you may play as for a regular water hazard, or you may drop a ball within two club-lengths of the point where the ball last crossed the hazard margin (or a point on the opposite margin an equal distance from the hole), but not close to the hole. Penalty, one stroke in each case. 22. If you play your ball from a water hazard or a sand bunker, you must not let your club touch the sand or water until your downstroke. Penalty for violation, loss of hole in match play; two strokes in stroke play. The grassy side of the sand bunker, or patch of grass growing in the bunker, is not considered a part of the hazard and you may ground your club there. 23. If your ball lies against the flagstick and all of it does not lie below the level of the lip of the hole, it cannot be counted as being in the cup. If, when you pull the flagstick out, the ball drops in, it is counted as "holed out". If the ball falls away from the flagstick, the ball must be replaced on the lip of the hole. There is no penalty incurred. 24. If your ball strikes an unattended flagstick after you play from the putting green, you incur a penalty of loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play. 25. In match play, if your ball hits a flagstick that has been removed, you lose the hole. In stroke play, you have to take a two-stroke penalty and you must then play the ball as it lies. 26. In match play, if your ball hits the flagstick when it has been removed or while anyone is holding it, or if your ball hits the person holding it or his clubs (if carried by him), you lose the hole. In stroke play, if your ball hits the attended flagstick even if it has been removed, or if it hits the person attending the flagstick; you must take a two-stroke penalty and play the ball as it lies. 27. If leaves or other loose impediments lie on the green, you may remove them without penalty by picking them up or brushing them aside with a club. If your ball moves after a loose impediment has been touched, it shall be replaced, without penalty. 28. You must not touch the ground in your line of putt except that you may (1) repair a ball mark or an old hole plug, (2) lift the ball for cleaning, (3) remove a loose impediment or obstruction, (4) place the club in front of the ball in addressing it; or (5) measure who is farthest away from the hole. Otherwise, touching the line of putt will cost you the hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play. 29. If your ball lands on the wrong green, you must pick it up and drop it off the green within one club-length of the nearest point of relief but not nearer the hole. The ball may be cleaned during the lifting process. 30. In match play, if your opponent's ball lies in the line of your putt, you may ask to have it picked up. The opponent must mark its position, preferably by placing a small coin or some other thin, flat marker immediately behind the ball. If the marker might interfere with you putt, it may be placed one or more putterhead-lengths to one side. 31. If your ball moves another player's ball, he must replace it. This is true in both match and stroke play and applies even if his ball is knocked in the hole. 32. In singles match play, there is no penalty if your ball hits the opponent's ball on the green. The opponent must put it back in he place from which it was moved. In stroke play, when both balls lie on the putting green, if your ball strikes a fellow-competitor's ball, you must take a penalty of two strokes and the other player's ball must be returned to its original position. 33. In match play you may concede your opponent's putt at any time. But in stroke play there is no such thing as conceding a putt. Every player must hole out on every hole. 34. On the putting green the ball may be marked, lifted and cleaned, without penalty, and replaced on the spot from which it was lifted. 35. When the player's ball is on the putting green, the player's caddie, partner, or partner's caddie, may, before the stroke is played, point out a line for putting. But remember that the line of the putt shall not be touched in front of, to the side of, or behind the hole. 36. While making the stroke on the putting green, the player shall not permit his caddie, partner, or partner's caddie to position himself on or close to an extension of the line of putt behind the ball. 37. On the putting green the player shall not make a stroke from a stance astride, or with either foot touching the line of the putt or an extension of that line behind the ball. ═══ 7. Help For Your Game. ═══ The entries in this area will aid you in your quest for the perfect game. ═══ 7.1. Left hand Grip. ═══ An easy to follow method will be to stand up straight and with your arms hanging from your sides just move your left hand in to meet the club. Now just close your hand over the club. The V from your thumb and 1st finger will point to various spots depending on the next piece of information. You should see as many knuckles as if you were standing up with your arms hanging naturally and looked down at your left hand. If your fingers are dug into your palm you need thicker grips. Keep your hands as firm as if you where holding a child's hand. ═══ 7.2. Right hand Grip. ═══ An easy to follow method will be to stand up straight and with your arms hanging from your sides just move your right hand in to meet the club. Now just close your hand over the club. The right little finger rests behind the 1st finger of the left hand. The V from your thumb and 1st finger will point to various spots depending on the information presented above. ═══ 7.3. Ball Position For 1-2-3-4-5 Woods. ═══ Your feet should be 18 inches apart. The ball should be placed just off of the left heel and moved more to the right as the number of the wood rises. Move the right foot away from the line of flight so that your body may turn more to the right during the back swing. The result of this will be a longer swing arc which will add power and distance. ═══ 7.4. Ball Position For 2-3-4-5-6 Irons. ═══ The stance should narrow from that for wood shots, place your feet closer together. Place the ball more to the right. Move the left foot away from the line of flight so that your body will not be able to turn as much to the right during the back swing. This will result in a shorter swing which will produce a more accurate shot. ═══ 7.5. Ball Position For 6-7-8-9 Irons. ═══ The stance should narrow from that for long iron shots, place your feet even closer together. Place the ball more to the right. Move the left foot away from the line of flight so that your body will not be able to turn as much to the right during the back swing. This will result in a shorter swing which will produce a more accurate shot. ═══ 7.6. How To Hook A Shot. ═══ Move both of your hands more to the right on the grip. Use the normal stance for the club you have selected for the shot. ═══ 7.7. How To Slice A Shot. ═══ Move both of your hands more to the left on the grip. Use the normal stance for the club you have selected for the shot. ═══ 7.8. Hitting A Chip Shot. ═══ Use a 4 or 5 iron. Use a very open stance. Your left foot will be pulled back a greater amount than with a regular 4 or 5 iron shot. Your right elbow should be placed on your hip. The club face should be straight at the target. Only use your wrists for the back swing and then a normal swing forward. Keep your left side firm, you should almost be standing on your left foot. Do not peek at the target, do not look towards the hole until after the ball is hit. ═══ 7.9. Hitting A Pitch Shot. ═══ Use a 7, 8 or 9 iron or the wedge. Use a very open stance. Your left foot will be pulled back a greater amount than with a regular 7,8 or 9 iron shot. Keep your hands close to your body. Bend your wrists to their maximum on the back swing. Hit down and hit hard through the ball. Keep your hands ahead of the ball through impact. ═══ 7.10. Hitting A High ball. ═══ Use a 7, 8 or 9 iron. Position the ball more to the left. The hands should be even with the club head at address. Keep your weight on your right side. Use a lot of wrist action during the back swing and through contact. Let the weight of the club head do the work. ═══ 7.11. Hitting A Punch Shot Or Low Ball. ═══ Use a 2, 3 or 4 iron. Position the ball more to the right. Your hands should be well ahead of the club face at address. Keep your weight on your left side. Keep your left hand firm through impact. Hit down and through the ball. Keep your head down. ═══ 7.12. Hitting A Ball That Is Lying Uphill To The Target. ═══ Practice the swing to find the lowest point of the swing arc. Use a straighter faced club so the ball flies low. Keep your weight more on your left side. Aim to the right of the target. Use a shorter swing. Hit up the face of the slope on the hill. Do not fall away from the shot. Watch your balance. ═══ 7.13. Hitting A Ball That Is Lying Downhill To The Target. ═══ Practice the swing to find the lowest point of the swing arc. Use a more lofted club to make the ball rise. Keep your weight more on your left side. Use a shorter swing. Hit down the face of the hill hitting the ball first. Do not chop or scoop the ball. Watch your balance. ═══ 7.14. Hitting A Ball Which Is Lying Below Your Stance. ═══ Stand closer to the ball. Position the ball in the center of your stance. Your hands should be ahead of the club head at address. Make your grip more towards the club head, near the end of the grip. Aim to the left of the target. Stay down and bent until the swing is complete. ═══ 7.15. Hitting A Ball Which Is Lying Above Your Stance. ═══ Make your grip more towards the club head, near the end of the grip. Open your stance slightly. Position the ball more towards the right side. Aim to the right of the target. Hit straight thru the ball. Keep your head down until the swing is complete. ═══ 7.16. Hitting A Normal Shot From A Sand Trap. ═══ Use your sand wedge or higher degree wedge. Use a very open stance. Place the ball off of the left heel. Hit the sand about an inch or less in back of the ball. ═══ 7.17. Hitting A Chip Shot From A Sand Trap. ═══ Use a 8 or 9 iron. Use a very open stance. Your feet should be close together. Position the ball more towards the right side. Only use the wrists in the back swing. Hit the ball before you hit the sand. For long shots from shallow sand try a 4 or 5 iron. ═══ 7.18. Hitting An Explosion Shot From A Sand Trap. ═══ Use a 9 iron or the wedge. Plant your feet firmly in the sand. Use a very open stance. Open the club face. Bend your wrists quickly during the back swing. Keep your left arm firm through the swing. Keep your eye on a spot about 2 inches behind the ball. Hit down and thru the sand, do not stop. ═══ 7.19. Getting Out Of Heavy Grass. ═══ Use a 7, 8 or 9 iron. Do not try for distance. Hit down and thru the ball. ═══ 7.20. Hitting Off Of Little Or No Grass. ═══ Hit down on the ball, do not try to scoop it. ═══ 7.21. Hitting Into The Wind. ═══ Position the ball more towards the right. Do not try to kill the ball, take it easy. ═══ 7.22. Hitting Over Water. ═══ This is a normal shot. Keep your head down, do not look up.